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Monday, October 17, 2011

Big annoyances come in small packages

What a fantastic weekend! I feel like I was in some kind of time warp. We were able to get so much accomplished and I feel like I actually got to spend some good quality time with my new husband! What more could you ask for from a weekend. I also made my niece a dress! Told you....some weird time warp!

Little annoyances (Ravings): Remember the socks I bought for Jason? Well, one of those chores I accomplished over the weekend was laundry. That never-ending pile of drudgery. I hate doing laundry. Can you tell? It’s the folding and putting away that I dread. Ugh! But I digress, because prepping new clothes for the wash is another crazy, completely unnecessarily time consuming chore that typically just serves to piss me off. Anyway, the socks. It’s a package of six dress socks, hanging on that little plastic hanger, wrapped with the ring of cardboard around the middle with the brand name, size etc. So I take off the cardboard ring and am met with the gauntlet of little plastic thingies. This is what I have been calling them all weekend. I have since googled them and they are called barbs, fine barbs to be exact because they are small and thin. There were 12 of them holding these socks together! And we all know what it’s like to get those things off. You have to carefully get the scissors in there to cut them, without cutting the fabric, which would create a hole. This means you have to gently pull the fabric apart, being careful not to pull that little barb right through, which would create hole. I had to buy these socks because he puts holes in them with his toenails! He doesn’t need a tiny hole to help him get started!

What is this trend to pinning and stapling and fastening everything so that there is no chance of movement? I don’t understand it. They are socks! I paid like 5 dollars for them. Seriously, I’m totally ok if they shifted a bit. I have noticed this with children’s toys as well. Getting anything out of its packaging takes multiple and various tools, infinite time, and unending patience. Not to mention that you have a 5 year old standing there making you feel like a complete useless mass of cells for not getting the pony out of the box fast enough! Clearly, I’ve had this experience and have not yet recovered because I recall also having to get this plastic piece that had been sewn in out of its mane.

What I’m eating: (Cravings): I took the day off from cooking on Friday and asked Jason to handle dinner. We ended up ordering pizza. And by we, I mean me! I really have no idea what that man did before I was feeding him. So, clearly, this was not a gluten free meal! Oh well, I’m back at it on Sat morning.

Saturday night I made flax and parmesan crusted tilapia with spinach salad. Basically, I ground up some flax seeds ( I never measure when I’m cooking so I will guess it was about a ½ cup for 2 fillets. ) in a coffee grinder, then added some (maybe a ¼ cup) shredded parmesan cheese, and put it on a plate. I dredged the fish is 2 beaten eggs and then the flax and cheese mixture and pan fried it in a tiny bit of olive oil. Right before it finished cooking I added about a tablespoon of butter. You don’t need the butter but Jason is a very picky fish eater and he likes it so I only do it to appease him. For the salad, I just chopped up an heirloom tomato and a bit of red onion (really thinly so it’s not overpowering) and put that over some baby spinach. I then sprinkled on some feta cheese we had leftover and a bit of Annie’s Goddess dressing, which I’m obsessed with. I have figured out how to make my own but sometimes it’s just too time consuming. The next time I make it though, I’ll post the recipe I use!

Sunday we had Jason’s family over for his birthday dinner. I made a citrus roasted chicken. Super easy and it just cooks all day. Put a whole chicken in an over bag, rub some butter on the skin (not sure if this actually does anything!) and then put the rest in the bag. I think I used a little over a ½ a stick. Pour in some chicken stock (about ¼ - ½ cup), then cut 2 lemons, 2 limes, and 2 tangerines into pieces (the first time I made this I used oranges, but tangerines were on sale at the West Side Market last week) and throw them into the bag. Then I added some fresh rosemary, lemon thyme, sage and parsley, tied up the bag, put it in an uncovered roasting pan and threw it in the over at 350 for about 4-4 ½ hours. Note: This was like a 10 lb chicken, so decrease your cooking time accordingly. About an hour before I served dinner, I cut up some fingerling potatoes, coated them with lemon olive oil, salt and pepper and put them in the oven with the chicken. Then right before dinner I blanched some green beans and then sautéed them with a tablespoon of butter and a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar for a few minutes. At the last minute, I threw in some sun dried tomatoes and then put them on a serving plate and sprinkled them with some leftover crumbled goat cheese. I was afraid I didn’t have enough food, so I also threw a bag of buttered brussel sprouts in the microwave! If I had more ambition, and a bigger kitchen, I would have used the juice from the chicken to make a gravy, but I had neither, so no gravy was had!

Kelly, I've never found flax to have a strong taste so take my opinion for what it's worth, but I did think that the parmesan taste was stronger and the flax just gave it that crunch. Make sure you grind the flax into a powder. That may help!